Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan Ocha announced Friday that he has joined the ranks of a newly formed party to run in the May 2023 general election, despite a recent ruling limiting his term in office to a maximum of another two years.
Prayuth, who will become part of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party (United Thai Nation Party) once he completes registration, has stressed that it should be up to voters to decide whether he should continue to serve as prime minister, Thai daily ‘The Nation’ has reported.
«I have worked hard for the people all over Thailand, even in areas where there are no parliamentarians of the Palang Pracharath Party – to which he currently belongs – and others of the government coalition», he said, before stressing that «the important thing is to continue the work of the government in a sustainable way».
Thus, he defended his relationship with the candidate of the Palang Pracharath Party to the post of Prime Minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, who is currently Deputy Prime Minister. In this sense, he said that the relationship is «unbreakable» and acknowledged that Prawit «has taken good care of him».
Prayuth’s term would be limited to two years after the election after the Thai Constitutional Court ruled that he has been prime minister since 2017, when the current Magna Carta, which prohibits a prime minister from holding office for more than eight years, came into force.
The Constitutional thus determined that Prayuth had not yet served his full term and allowed him to return to office after a five-week suspension imposed following a lawsuit by the opposition Pheu Thai, which argued that the prime minister was already leading the country before he was appointed chief executive in April 2017.
Thus, the opposition formation argued that Prayuth’s time at the head of the military junta that seized power in 2014 should count, implying that the retired general had exceeded the eight-year term stipulated in the country’s constitution.
By contrast, some Prayuth supporters argue that it should start counting from the 2019 elections, the first since the current Constitution was declared. Elections will be held in May 2023, when the legislative term of the current coalition government expires.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
